May 07, 2007
The Queen & I
There's a lament about conversations at Washington cocktail parties is that they all start the same way: "What do you do?" No one can figure out a better way to start a conversation here then "Well what can you do for me?"
Today I went to the British Ambassador's sprawling residence on Massachusetts Avenue to cover the garden party for the Queen's visit to Washington. From the moment I picked up the invitation on Friday, I've been very excited. The Queen of England!
The reception was really quite incredible—very fancy snacks, a military band, and lots of champagne under the large tent on the massive lawn of the ambassador's house. The crowd at the reception was pretty impressive (even though the most impressive names were reserved for tonight's state dinner). This afternoon's crowd included Brian Williams, Nancy Pelosi, CIA Director Michael Hayden, Roy Blunt, and a ton of others. The Queen worked her way through the crowd on one side, accompanied by assorted military aides and the ambassador, while on the other side, Prince Philip walked along with his hands clasped firmly behind his back. According to protocol, you don't shake his hand, he shakes yours, and many an overly friendly American was left in the lurch with hand extended as the Prince walked through the crowd.
I had resolved at the reception that I wasn't going to say anything to the Queen. It's not my style to have my picture taken with random celebrities or to shake hands with famous people I run into at parties just so I can say I "met" them. (The two exceptions to this rule since I started at Washingtonian? MC Hammer and Tim Gunn from Project Runway.) Also, I have absolutely nothing to say to the Queen of England, although I did like Helen Mirren's portrayal of her in
"The Queen."
So I was quite surprised when I found her speaking to me. After Sir David Manning, the British ambassador, introduced her to the businessman from BMW next to me and they discussed transatlantic cooperation, the Queen, Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith, turned and, peering up at me from under her bright-pink hat, broke the ice.
"And you," she said in her royal British accent, "what do you do?"
"I'm a magazine editor, ma'am," I finally croaked out.
"Here?"
"Yes, in Washington."
"How nice." And she moved on.
Such was my brush with royalty. I managed to have the quintessential
Washington conversation with the British monarch.
